Operations

Why Sweetgreen created smaller format for World Trade Center

October 26, 2021

Sweetgreen, which has 140 locations and filed Monday to go public, is opening Friday inside the World Trade Center. As one of the first food and beverage tenants in Tower 3, the restaurant's design and operations model caters to a post-COVID working world, Pamela Haber, head of Real Estate, told FastCasual. Although the chain's typical format boasts expansive dining rooms, the WTC features no indoor seating. Instead, it has a pick-up station to cater to Sweetgreen's increasing online consumer base.

"It was important that the structure felt weightless and light," Haber said. "Our design team really focused on the engineering of the pick-up station because we knew we wanted our shelving to be mobile. We are building our stores with the flexibility to transform throughout the day to provide our customers and Team Members a safe environment and keep them connected to real food."

More than two-thirds of Sweetgreen's revenue comes from digital sales, and its AUV is $2.5 million.

The 2,360-square-foot restaurant inside the WTC drew inspiration from the famed Oculus, located next to the restaurant. The design pairs functionality with impact to meet the needs of this high-density Manhattan location, while commemorating a site that holds deep meaning to Americans, and New Yorkers, in particular, Haber said. That meant sourcing high-quality materials to emulate the building's natural and ethereal feeling.

"This location has been thoughtfully designed to meet the needs of our customers in this high-density location, including a flexible pick-up station that moves indoors and outdoors with ease," she said. "Since the beginning, we've always valued customer feedback and adapted our service to their wants and needs. In the last year, we've seen a greater shift toward open-air and outdoor dining experiences and wanted to ensure that we're delivering on that for our customers.

Features include:

• Reflective and transparent materials to allow light to pass through.
• Mirrors over the front serve line that mimic the Oculus, giving customers a unique view of the iconic structure.
• A ceiling articulation that transforms into Sweetgreen's pickup zone, catering to its increasing digital customer base.
• And an intentional industrial kitchen design to create contrast.

Founded in 2016, Sweetgreen plans to open 30 units in 2021 and double its footprint over the next five years.